We\\\'ve seen an impressive collection of products added under ROCCAT\\\'s SDMS this year, the Arvo being the last to complete the collation. ROCCAT can certainly be proud of what they have achieved in the SDMS.

The purpose of the SDMS is to utilize your desktop, to furnish your system with simple yet feature rich gaming peripherals. The ROCCAT Arvo does just this. It\\\'s compact, yet it doesn\\\'t loose any functionality. It\\\'s low cost yet it isn\\\'t made from cheap and nasty materials.

What I like most about the Arvo are those novel thumbster buttons, I\\\'m surprised there isn\\\'t anything on the market to come up with this idea. I\\\'ve tried and tested the Arvo and this particular feature is a favourite, and is so useful.

If I was to criticize this keyboard in anyway I would have to be that at first it can be tedious during windows operations having to swap between gaming mode and numpad mode. Using Photoshop in particular highlighted this for me because, I use the keypad to resize images and I also use the delete key on the numpad (number 4) and so I need to switch between these modes each time I resize and cutout objects.

The ROCCAT Arvo is on the shelf at £55, which is placed quite reasonably amongst the rivals. This product is ideal for someone who wants to free up that space on the desk but be able to get the most out of their games. It comes as no surprise that the ROCCAT Arvo receives the highest award - Gold.



Pros
+ Sleek, and very compact
+ Price
+ Looks great
+ Thumbster buttons are very useful

Cons
- Can be tedious swapping between modes during tasks that use both